Somalia

Somalia, the product of the merger in 1960 between a former British protectorate and an Italian colony, has had a violent and unstable history. In 1970 President Mohamed Siad Barre proclaimed a Socialist state and started close relations with the Soviet Union. Frequent conflicts with neighbours followed. When the regime was overthrown in 1991, Barre went into hiding and the country was carved up by heavily armed warlords. The long-suffering population, which numbers more than 10 million, was plunged into further misery when famine ravaged the country. In 1992 US Marines arrived ahead of UN peacekeepers in an attempt to restore order, but the "humanitarian intervention" ended in disaster when two US Black Hawk helicopters were shot down. As warlords celebrated the death of 19 American soldiersthe US beat a hasty retreat. Somalian clan elders and other senior figures appointed Abdulkassim Salat Hassan president at a conference in 2000, but little progress was made until 2004, when a new parliament was created with Abdullahi Yusuf installed as president. The fledgling regime soon stuttered and fighting between the factions resumed.

GuardianSomalia, the product of the merger in 1960 between a former British protectorate and an Italian colony, has had a violent and unstable history. In 1970 President Mohamed Siad Barre proclaimed a Socialist state and started close relations with the Soviet Union. Frequent conflicts with neighbours followed. When the regime was overthrown in 1991, Barre went into hiding and the country was carved up by heavily armed warlords. The long-suffering population, which numbers more than 10 million, was plunged into further misery when famine ravaged the country. In 1992 US Marines arrived ahead of UN peacekeepers in an attempt to restore order, but the "humanitarian intervention" ended in disaster when two US Black Hawk helicopters were shot down. As warlords celebrated the death of 19 American soldiersthe US beat a hasty retreat. Somalian clan elders and other senior figures appointed Abdulkassim Salat Hassan president at a conference in 2000, but little progress was made until 2004, when a new parliament was created with Abdullahi Yusuf installed as president. The fledgling regime soon stuttered and fighting between the factions resumed.
Guardian

Somalia has had a strict zero tolerance policy towards corruption in a bid to foster an efficient civil service. "President Abdullahi Mohamed took office after running a broad anti-corruption electoral campaign. The journey to win that fight is steep, and acknowledging the problem is a good step. The presidentÃÂ ...

Somalia's deputy PM Mahdi Mohamed Guled has held talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, where he is attending an international meeting. The two sides signed an agreement aimed at boosting the cooperation and bilateral relations between Somalia and India, according to aÃÂ ...

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The lawmakers of the Lower house Chamber of Somalia's Federal Parliament were reported to have filed a motion against the House speaker Mohamed Osman Jawari, Garowe Online reports. Reliable sources tell GO that 140 parliamentarians are until now signed the motionÃÂ ...

Mogadishu, 12 March 2018 - A nationwide campaign continues in Somalia to protect millions of children against the potentially deadly effects of measles. WHO, UNICEF, national and local health authorities aim to reach more than 4.7 million children aged from 6 months to 10 years during the overallÃÂ ...

Somalia's lower house of parliament on Monday backed the federal government's rejection of the Berbera port deal entered into by semi-autonomous Somaliland, Ethiopia and DP World. A Voice of America journalist, Harun Maruf, reported that the lower house had voted to reject the deal through aÃÂ ...

"In Somalia, I welcome a number of positive developments, including the establishment of a national human rights commission with a diverse composition, and I encourage the Government to continue its efforts to build institutions and bring peace," he said. The Gambia till January 2017 was under the ruleÃÂ ...

Circulation of vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) has been confirmed in Somalia. Three cVDPV2s strains were isolated from environmental samples collected on 4 and 11 January 2018, in Banadir province (Mogadishu). These latest isolates are genetically linked to cVDPV2 strains collected fromÃÂ ...

Qatar has participated in a high-level international conference on Somalia, hosted in the British capitalLondon. Qatar's delegation to the meeting was headed by Tariq Ali al-Ansari, director of the International Technical Co-operation Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In his speech at theÃÂ ...

Dubai: Of late, rumours have done the rounds that the UN-backed African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) may withdraw from the country in a year or two. This, despite the fact that the threat from the Al Qaida-aligned Al Shababmilitant group remains grave, as indicated by the horrific bombing in theÃÂ ...

Somalia's president is trying to force Al-Shabaab to negotiate a political settlement with his government, the commander of US forces in Africa said on Tuesday. "Somalis are going to need to decide for themselves what the arrangement will be at the end of the day," Gen Thomas Waldhauser, head of the USÃÂ ...

Every morning at 8:00 a.m. Fatuma Ibrahim prepares for her usual rounds of trekking from house to house selling Baati and Garbasaar - a traditional Somali cotton dress and head scarf. This has been her daily routine since she first set foot in Kalkal displacement camp in the capital of Somalia, Mogadishu,ÃÂ ...

Despite multiple ills such as the jihadist attacks and severe drought in 2017, Somalia has managed to maintain a balance of trade. In September last year, the country recorded a budget surplus of $3.8 million, compared to $1.8 million in December 2016, according to the latest International Monetary FundÃÂ ...

Almost half of the 12.3 million population of Somalia, 5.5 million people, are in urgent need of emergency health services. Insecurity, displacement, poor health seeking practices, concentration of health facilities in urban areas, as well as the continuous spread of measles, AWD/ Cholera and complicationsÃÂ ...

In support of The Federal Government of Somalia, yesterday the United Kingdom and OCHA convened an event in London to draw urgent attention to the humanitarian crisis in Somalia and the need for a swift and substantial response. The event was co-chaired by ERC Mark Lowcock and the PermanentÃÂ ...

Desert sand is slowly taking over Somalia. Just six years after the last major drought emergency, the rains have failed again -- a devastating trend in a country where around 80 percent of people make their living on the land. Special correspondent Jane Ferguson and videographer Alessandro PavoneÃÂ ...

He said the officials were returning from talks attended by the Southwest Regional State president, former parliament speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, senior Somali military officials and advisers for U.S. forces in Somalia. The talks at Baledogle airfield centered on plans to reopen the road linkingÃÂ ...

Some 500 US troops are working with the Somali military and other African partners to eradicate al-Shabab from their strongholds in Somalia. "Our doctrine is…to disrupt, clear, hold. We're finding it difficult to hold," Jack Reed, top ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services committee, told DefenseÃÂ ...

While the risk of famine in Somalia has declined, humanitarian needs remain at critical levels. An estimated 5.4 million people are in need of assistance, 2.1 million are internally displaced, and 1.2 million children are projected to be malnourished. The 2018 Gu season is forecasted to be normal to belowÃÂ ...

Access to water is a basic human need, and achieving full coverage remains a challenge in many areas of Somalia. For this reason, and in view of the persistent drought across the Horn of Africa region, there is need for the Somali government, humanitarian and development partners to work togetherÃÂ ...

Officials from the five countries contributing to the African Union force in Somalia are in Uganda's capital, discussing plans to withdraw their troops by the end of 2020. The force known as AMISOM has been battling al-Shabab fighters for 10 years. It's now training local police forces to prepare them for theÃÂ ...

Not much has changed about Somalia's prospects for long-term stability, says Sen. Jack Reed, since he first visited the streets of Mogadishu almost 25 years ago. Reed, now the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, visited the country anew last week. He found that although the 500 U.S. troops there areÃÂ ...

Al-Shababmilitants in Somalia have shot and killed nine donkeys they said were transporting goods to a government-controlled area in the Bakool region. A security source told VOA Somali the militants seized the donkey carts early Wednesday near the village of Elboon, 15 kilometers west of Wajid.

The Horn of Africa has been hotter and drier than normal in January following an early cessation of seasonal rains around mid-December. This is likely to result in further deterioration of pasture and water resources, most notably in pastoral and marginal agricultural areas of Somalia, Ethiopia and parts ofÃÂ ...

Mogadishu">Mogadishu, [Somalia], Mar 2 (ANI): At least three people have been killed and three others injured in a suicide attack in outskirts of the Somali's capital Mogadishu">Mogadishu. Mogadishu">Mogadishu, [Somalia], Mar 2 (ANI): At least three people have been killed and three others injured in aÃÂ ...

Officials from countries that contribute to AMISOM, the African Union force in Somalia, are meeting this week in Uganda to discuss a transitional security plan for the troubled country. While AMISOM has made gains in Somalia, the risks still presented by militant group al-Shabab remain vivid due toÃÂ ...

Al Shabaab frequently carries out bombings in Mogadishu and elsewhere in Somalia in their effort to bring down the Western-backed federal government and drive out the AMISOM forces defending it. On Friday, twin car bomb blasts in Mogadishu - claimed by al Shabaab - killed 45 people. Abdiasis AbuÃÂ ...

After years of civil war and upheaval, Somalia is struggling to its feet, and the U.S. is back in with boots on the ground and drones in the skies. Special correspondent Jane Ferguson and videographer Alessandro Pavone report on the ways the U.S. and other African partner nations are helping SomaliÃÂ ...

Uganda and Somalia have traded blames over a deadly Mogadishu shoot out that occured hours after Friday's twin car bombing that killed at least 38 people. The Ugandan army on Monday said its. troops had shot dead three Somali soldiers in Mogadishu, accusing them of opening fire on a militaryÃÂ ...

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Two car bomb blasts in Somalia's capital killed at least 18 people on Friday and shattered a monthslong period of calm in Mogadishu. The Shabab extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack. The explosions came a day after Somalia's interior minister warned of anÃÂ ...

A resident stands within the debris at the scene after a suicide car explosion in front of Doorbin hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia. Text Size: A A A. Reuters/Mogadishu. The death toll from twin car bomb blasts in the Somali capital late on Friday has risen to 45 from the initially reported 18, a senior governmentÃÂ ...

A soldier climbs over destroyed vehicles near following a twin bomb attack in the capitalMogadishu, Somalia Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018. Two car bomb blasts rocked Somalia's capital Friday evening, followed by gunfire, police said, and an ambulance service said more than a dozen had been killed.

Mogadishu - An international anti-piracy force says a Singapore-flagged chemical tanker has exchanged fire with attackers off the coast of Somalia before escaping unharmed. The European Union anti-piracy force says in a statement that the MT Leopard Sun was attacked by two skiffs early on FridayÃÂ ...

The body of a bomb blast victim is carried away in Mogadishu, Somalia. ... Authorities say the death toll in a pair of explosions Friday evening in Somalia's capital has risen to 21. ... The first blast occurred near Somalia's intelligence headquarters and the second occurred near parliament's headquarters.

The first blast, followed by gunfire, occurred at a checkpoint close to Villa Somalia, the name for the seat of government, while a second followed soon after at a hotel. "I can confirm an attack in the vicinity of the presidential palace," said police officer Ibrahim Mohamed. "Another car loaded with explosivesÃÂ ...

In 2017, Somalia faced a severe drought and sporadic terrorist attacks. These developments hurt economic activity, particularly in the north of the country and in rural areas, and temporarily impacted the tax collection efforts of the Federal government of Somalia. However, the authorities have navigatedÃÂ ...

A U.S. drone strike has killed several al-Shababmilitants in southern Somalia, officials tell VOA. Local sources said missiles fired Wednesday targeted a rickshaw carrying five Al-Shabab militants near Jamaame, in the southern Lower Juba region. "I can tell you that the airstrike hit a rickshaw and that fiveÃÂ ...

The 85-page report, "'It's Like We Are Always in a prison': Abuses Against Boys Accused of National Security Offenses in Somalia," details due process violations and other abuses since 2015 against boys in government custody for suspected Al-Shabab-related offenses. Somalia's federal government hasÃÂ ...

One million Somalis were displaced by drought and conflict last year, according to OCHA, the UN office that coordinates humanitarian aid. The rains in Somalia have underperformed for four successive seasons and today everyone - from farmers in the previously fertile south to pastoralists herding camelÃÂ ...

Somali cabinet has overwhelmingly voted Monday to endorse the appointment of the new police and intelligence Agency [NISA] during a meeting in Mogadishu. According to a statement released by the cabinet, General Bashir Ahmed Mohamed was appointed as the new commander of the Somali policeÃÂ ...

Mogadishu, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Somali military court on Tuesday sentenced a senior army official to death after finding him guilty of murdering chief commander of the Somali marines in Mogadishu on Jan. 18, officials said. Chairperson of the military Court, Hassan Ali Shute, said Abdinasir HoshÃÂ ...

Somalia - IOM, the United Nations Migration Agency, has partnered with Americares to donate more than eight tonnes of medical supplies, for distribution across IOM project locations in Somaliland, Puntland, Lower Juba, Gedo and Banadir regions. The supplies will immediately be dispatched to IOM'sÃÂ ...

The Cabinet has unanimously endorsed Abdi Sheik Ahmed for the post of Director-General of the National Communications Authority (NCA) of Somalia, which is established under Somalia's Communications Law 2017. Speaking after the endorsement, the minister for Post, Telecom and technology, H.E.ÃÂ ...

Mogadishu, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The top United Nations relief official in Somalia on Tuesday stressed the need to improve communities' resilience to better withstand the effects of recurring droughts such as famines in the Horn of Africa nation. Peter de Clercq, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator forÃÂ ...